Photograph: Morry Gash / Associated Press (2014)
This just in: members of Pussy Riot attacked with whips and pepper spray by Cossack militiamen as they attempt to stage a protest at the Sochi Olympics.
Nothing surprising perhaps about the actions of the former, whose opposition to the Games and to all things which receive official state endorsement is well-known. But it was rather surprising to learn that there are still Cossacks in the world (outside of the Moscow State Circus) and that they are now working as an auxiliary police force under orders from the Kremlin.
Surprising and even a little disappointing: for one might have thought and hoped that this people who pride themselves on their independence and who have often been on the wrong side of events in Russia, would resist the temptation to be no more than hired thugs in silly hats doing Putin's dirty work.
But there you go: the partly shocking, partly ludicrous footage that has come out of Sochi obliges us to forget any romantic notions we might have had, thanks to our poets, of courageous Cossack soldiers on horseback or dancing around the campfire; free spirits, resistant to all authority, etc. The fact is they have always been vicious mercenaries prepared to serve those in power and do whatever is asked of them, whether this be fighting foreign invaders, killing the Jews, or, indeed, attacking feminists in order to uphold traditional values (racism, misogyny, homophobia ...).
This is not to say that the Bolshevik policy of decossackization [Расказачивание] was in any way admirable. But I certainly prefer the radically progressive elements of Soviet Communism over reactionary and religiously-minded ethno-tribal stupidity.
